Endoscopes are instruments used to examine the interior of a hollow organ or a cavity of the body in order to minimize invasive surgeries. Endoscopes are often employed as disease-diagnosis tools; for example, a gastrointestinal (GI) endoscope and a cystoscope can visualize a patient's GI tract and urinary tract to diagnose, respectively, an unexplained diarrhea or hematuria. In addition, endoscopes may be combined with a variety of surgical instruments to enable surgeons to perform procedures, such as orthopedic implantations, while imaging the region of interest using video, ultrasound, laser, optics or other imaging modalities.
Conventionally, both diagnostic and surgical endoscopes assist in examination of interior body regions only; actually treating disease may require another separate procedure. As a result, patients must often make repeated clinic visits with attendant inconvenience and delays, risking not only increased mental anxiety but also complications associated with progressing symptoms. In addition, the use of endoscopes may result in injury to or pathogenic infections at the surgical site (e.g., the implantation site), a consideration that limits use of endoscopic examination as an adjunct to treatment.
Consequently, there is a need for a system and a method that can combine endoscopic examination with therapy. In addition, it is desirable for such a system and method to be associated with a reduced risk of pathogenic infections that can result from endoscope usage.